What Farmers Say - BreedersBEST Non-Shearing Genetics

“We had to do it (move out of Merinos to Dorpers) because we were up against the drought, shearing costs, mulesing issues and the fact that we had a 50 year old shearing shed that needed replacing.We put a lot of effort into fine wool, but it came to the point where we couldn’t justify it so we went looking for other options. We noticed the difference from the first drop of lambs. They grew quicker and had an uncanny will to live, especially in such harsh conditions. They dressed out a lot better than crossbreds on the same paddock and they got to the size that they needed to be quickly, which is what we liked best about them. We are looking to cross the Dorpers with the Wiltipoll rams which will add length and height while providing hybrid vigour”.
(Leon & Jenny Johnson - Northampton, W.A. June 21st 2007 Farm Weekly)

“I’m very impressed with the 30 BreedersBEST Kojak composite rams I purchased last year, they have grown out extremely well. They all appear to be fully shedding. We’ve just marked the first drop of lambs and I’m impressed with their structure and growth rates. I’ve now decided my aim is not to shear anymore sheep and I’d like to get to a pure shedding flock as quickly as possible”.
(Willy Ball - Katanning W.A.)

“In 2001 we started breeding White Dorper sheep, sourcing our genetics from Western Australia. In 2004 we started using Wiltshires over our Dorper sheep as we felt we needed to improve hardiness and carcass size. We also felt that the Wiltshire was more fertile than the Dorper. We also wanted to make use of the hybrid vigor from mating the two breeds to improve weight gain and toughness during periods of feed shortages in the winter months and during dry summers. We have noticed an improvement in lambing percentages of around 10% from the Wiltshire X Dorper sheep at this early stage, and it appears that the cross bred sheep are not so susceptible to worm burdens. What foot problems we had with the Dorpers have mainly been tidied up by using the Wiltshire genes. We will continue to criss cross the Wiltshire and Dorper breeds as we believe they complement each other, and with the added advantage of maintaining a certain level of hybrid vigour”
(Phil Carman - Hawkes Bay, New Zealand) 

 

Top of Page